The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 28, 2017
Filed:
Aug. 13, 2014
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Aichi-Ken, JP;
Tesla Motors, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Jonathan Richard Young, Saline, MI (US);
Donald James Robert Parr, San Francisco, CA (US);
Ernest Matthew Villanueva, San Francisco, CA (US);
Nathan Nelson, San Francisco, CA (US);
Paul Dewitt Frey, Portola Valley, CA (US);
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Aichi-Ken, JP;
Tesla Motors, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
Impact protection structures for vehicles are described. An impact protection structure includes a support structure of the vehicle, an interior rail coupled to the support structure, and an exterior rail coupled to the interior rail. The exterior rail has an inboard boundary wall positioned between an upper mounting region and a lower mounting region. The upper and the lower exterior mounting region of the exterior rail are coupled to an upper and a lower mounting region of the interior rail. At least a portion of the inboard boundary wall is spaced apart from an outboard wall of the interior rail such that when the exterior rail is impacted by a blunt-object barrier, the inboard boundary wall of the exterior rail deforms, thereby damping energy of the impact at the exterior rail and arresting crack propagation between the exterior rail and the interior rail.